2015-03-31

2015-01-14

2015-01-09

On 7/23/2015, a ceremony was held in Carillon Historical Park History Museum to celebrate the production of the first piece of automotive glass produced by Fuyao Glass Dayton plant (Fuyao Glass America, a.k.a. FGA). The piece will also be collected by the museum. The mayor of Moraine city, the representative from the House, State Senators and representatives, business leaders and celebrities from different social sectors participated the ceremony. The route by the plant will also be renamed as “Fuyao Avenue.” The mayor and community representatives gave their speeches, hoping to express their gratitude towards Fuyao for choosing Moraine, Dayton as the location of their biggest production plant, and to thank Fuyao group for its contribution for local economy and community.

The advanced plant Fuyao built in Dayton has great historical significance. Dayton is the homeland of Wright brothers, fathers of airplanes, and has traditional advantages in aviation and manufacture industries. It used to be one of the most important automotive manufacture plant of General Motors. Back in 2008, due to the impact of economic crisis GM was forced to shut down its plant in Dayton, leaving over a thousand local people unemployed, which influenced thousands of families and struck local economy quite hard. The huge plant facility also went vacant since then. In January 2014 Fuyao stepped into U.S. market, and bought the facility from GM with no hesitation. Fuyao invested 200 million dollars and equipped the facility with the most advanced production lines, turned it into the biggest single production plant in the world, as well as its biggest glass production plant in the U.S. It will provide glass sets for major OEMs like GM, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, etc. The projection for this plant is by the time it reaches full capacity in 2016, it will produce 4.5 million sets per year and hire over 1500 local workers. By that time, one in every four cars in the U.S. will be equipped with glass made by Fuyao.

This new piece of glass will be set beside the last car produced by the GM plant seven years ago, endowing it with great historical significance. It signifies that the local manufacturing industry will be turned to another new page.

Fuyao Group is the biggest automotive glass producer. It plans to invest a total of 600 million dollars in the U.S. for its automotive glass plant in Dayton and its float glass plant in Mt. Zion, Illinois. The Mt. Zion facility has two float glass production lines, and it provides float glass for the Dayton plant to produce automotive glass. It is by far the biggest investment made by any Chinese automotive component companies. The Mt. Zion facility heated up and started massive trial production on Aug 25th.

The Chairman of Fuyao Group, Mr. Cao Dewang signed on this piece of windshield solemnly. In his speech, he shared his secrets: he loves the state of Ohio, loves the place he invested in. He expressed his gratitude for all the supports he has got from the community, and envisioned the beautiful picture of the future plant with everyone. His speech got prolonged, enthusiastic applause.

On the night, Moraine city voted and passed the proposal to change the name of the route beside the plant to “Fuyao Avenue,” paying their respect to Fuyao Group that instilled prosperity to local economy. (Originally published on Center for China and Globalization).